Mr. Terrific

Origin:  Terry Sloane was a prodigy, a man who could do anything. He excelled in college. He excelled in athletics. He even excelled in business, gaining great wealth for himself. For all his achievements, however, Sloane found himself depressed; he literally believed that there was nothing left in life for him to conquer. Sloane resolved to commit suicide and went to a bridge to do exactly that. Once there, however, he watched as a young woman jumped off the bridge. Sloane leaped in after her and rescued her. The young woman introduced herself as Wanda Wilson and explained that her little brother had joined a gang led by a man who called himself the Big Shot.

Wanda's story gave Sloane a new purpose in life. He decided that he would fight crime, both by taking on the criminals themselves and by teaching children the proper values in society. Sloane founded the Fair Play Club, an organisation where children would learn right and wrong free from the influence of street crime. He also designed a costume in which he would fight crime (complete with the slogan "Fair Play"). It was the youths that he had helped who gave him his name--Mr. Terrific.

Powers:  Mr. Terrific has no real superpowers, but he is a prodigy. He is a genius who has knowledge in almost every field of human endeavour. He is an Olympic level athlete. A list of his numerous skills would take up a small book. This makes Mr. Terrific a very formidable opponent for any criminal facing him.

History: Mr. Terrific was created by Charles Reizenstein & Hal Sharp. To some degree the idea behind Mr. Terrific was nothing terribly new. The concept of the genius who uses his extraordinary intelligence to fight crime lies behind many heroes of the pulp magazines and the comic books (Doc Savage, Batman, and Sandman are only three of many such characters). In Mr. Terrific, however, the concept was brought to the forefront; in his earliest appearances he is called "the human dynamo who is stumped by nothing." While to some degree Mr. Terrific was simply another spin on the crimefighting genius archetype, however, the character also grew out of the economic realities of the time. In 1941 the United States of America had not fully recovered from the Great Depression; poverty was still rather common. And it is an unfortunate fact of life that extreme poverty can sometimes lead to a life of a crime. Mr. Terrific's desire to teach children about "Fair Play" and his desire to give them a place where they can be safe from the allure of crime (the Fair Play Club) are both reflections of the social realities of the United States in the era directly preceding World War II.

Mr. Terrific debuted in Sensation Comics #1, January 1942. Unfortunately, the character would never prove as popular as either Wonder Woman or Wildcat, also featured in Sensation Comics. Mr. Terrific would never be a member of the Justice Society of America, although he would guest star in one JSA adventure. In the mid-Forties National Periodical Publications and All-American Comics came to a disagreement. As a result, for a brief time All-American comic books bore an All-American logo rather than the DC logo that they had since the company's inception. This even affected the line up of the Justice Society of America. Starman and The Spectre, both National characters, appeared for one last time in All-Star Comics #23, winter 1944. In the following issue, All-Star Comics #24, spring 1945, Mr. Terrific and Wildcat took their place as guests of the Justice Society of America. Unfortunately, Mr. Terrific's guest spot did not lead to permanent membership in the group. The next issue The Flash and Green Lantern permanently replaced Starman and The Spectre. Mr. Terrific did not appear in All-Star Comics' Golden Age run again.

As it was Mr. Terrific's days were numbered. He made his last appearance in Sensation Comics #63, March 1947. Although Mr. Terrific had never been a member of the Justice Society of America during the Golden Age, he ws among the first Golden Age characters revived in the Silver Age. He made his first Silver Age appearance in Justice League of America #37, August 1965, in the third  JSA/JLA team up. Apparently Mr. Terrific had joined the Justice Society of America sometime between 1951, when the JSA last appeared in All-Star Comics #57, and 1965! Unfortunately, Mr. Terrific would not fare much better than he had in the Golden Age. Although Mr. Terrific appeared in many JSA/JLA team ups, he did not appear in comic books beyond The Justice League of America and he played no role in the revival of All-Star Comics in the Seventies. Finally, he was killed off rather arbitrarily when he was murdered by the Spirit King in Justice League of America #171, October 1979. Fortunately, the concept of Mr. Terrific is not dead. A new Mr. Terrific appeared in the pages of the latest run of The Spectre. Like Terry Sloane, Michael Holt is a genius who has chosen to use his intelligence to battle evil.

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 Unless otherwise stated, all text on this site is © 1999 T. L. Canote